Florida State’s recent 4-game sweep of Pacific came as no surprise, although one can argue that the series against the lowly Tigers was still more competitive than it should have been. Still, the Seminoles should come away feeling fairly good about it and a big reason why is starting pitching.
Lefty Tyler Holton has been the most consistent arm in the Florida State rotation. Holton has won multiple ACC Pitcher of the Week honors this season and leads the team in wins and strikeouts with a 3.03 ERA that ranks in the top 10 in the ACC and tops among FSU starters.
As a whole, the group has the potential to be really good, but the problem is finding consistency. Cole Sands has been the Friday night starter for almost the entire season, but performance ranges from week to week.
Sands’ 4.98 ERA leaves something to be desired and is actually worse than his 4.13 mark as a freshman last season. Despite this, Sands is 5-2 on the year. In Sands’ five wins, he’s posted an ERA of 2.30. In all other starts, his ERA is 7.24.
After a brilliant start in which he allowed just one run in 5 2/3 innings against Virginia Tech on March 17, Sands put together three quality starts in a row. In the start following that nice streak, he allowed six runs in less than two innings of work to Clemson and failed to make it past the fifth inning in two starts following.
The other two starters for Florida State — Drew Parrish and Andrew Karp — have had similar campaigns.
Parrish, a freshman left-hander, worked 7 2/3 solid innings to pick up his fifth win on Sunday. Parrish has FSU’s only complete game and has pitched more than seven innings more than any other FSU starter this season.
His complete game 3-hitter against Notre Dame in March in which Parrish allowed just an unearned run is arguably the best start from any Seminole this season. On two other occasions however, Parrish has yielded seven earned runs to middle-of-the-pack offensive ACC teams.
Karp, a sophomore, has perhaps been more Jekyll and Hyde than any FSU starter. In the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Karp was outstanding in seven innings, yielding just one run on six hits and no walks while striking out eight.
Against South Florida on Feb. 21 and Florida on March 14, Karp worked seven innings in each contest. Although he was unable to get a win in either of those two games, Karp allowed just a total of one run on eight hits with no walks and 20 strikeouts.
In other contests however, Karp has been dreadful. On March 21 against Jacksonville, Karp allowed six runs without making it out of the first inning and last weekend against Virginia, he yielded four runs without recording an out.
While inconsistent starting pitching is hardly uncommon in college baseball, the FSU rotation has a chance to be a really one if all four arms can get clicking at once. With the ACC and NCAA Tournament approaching, rest will get short and arms will get tired, but the Seminoles will have to find a way to put consecutive quality outings together to make any real noise.
This is especially true, given FSU’s bullpen woes. While Drew Carlton, Clayton Kwiatkowski and Will Zirzow all have sub-3.50 ERAs, the Seminoles have let leads of 10-2 and against Pacific on Friday night, 8-1 slip away. FSU has also lost twice this season in contests where it led by multiple runs in the ninth inning.
Although this season hasn’t gone nearly as well as FSU had hoped, the Seminoles could still be a force to be reckoned with down the stretch. With a healthy Drew Mendoza and Jackson Lueck in the lineup, the Seminoles have averaged more than seven runs per game over their last 14 games, which includes eight contests against ACC teams with ERAs below four.
For FSU to hit 40 wins for a 40th straight year and get anywhere close to where it imagined it could be at the beginning of the season however, it will need to start with the starters.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
You must be logged in to post a comment Login